


She is Summer

by isthismyaccount



Category: IZONE (Band)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-06
Updated: 2019-11-06
Packaged: 2020-11-24 07:36:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 9,565
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20903999
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/isthismyaccount/pseuds/isthismyaccount
Summary: Pupper meets Ducker





	1. Chapter 1

_ 4/23 5:57 PM _

Yuri was always last in line, last picked for teams, and last to pack up her books and leave the classroom. Not that she minded; she enjoyed turning off the lights at the end of the day, didn’t mind not having the ball thrown in her direction, and always preferred snuggling up in a thick wool blanket to running free along the beach. She was a self-described nerdy girl, owing to her thin-rimmed glasses, her long black hair, and obviously her penchant for spending her free time indoors listening to songs on her phone. It wouldn’t be out of the ordinary to find Yuri in the library between classes, though she always picked a spot behind the rolling encyclopedia shelves in the basement so one would be hard-pressed to find her in the first place.

Today was more of the same. Yuri leisurely slid her textbook “New World History” into her bag as the rest of the class hurried out of the room. The click of the professor’s laptop lid shutting snapped her eyes away from the sunny day glimpsing through the doorway. It had been three weeks of nonstop rain before Mr. Blue Sky found his way back and break the so-called dreariness of the rainy season.

The professor gave Yuri a nod and flipped a salute, “Can you grab the lights?” He was moving for the door before Yuri even began to raise her voice in response.

It was more rhetorical than a real question. This was the last class for the day, in this room at least, and Professor Kwon was always in a hurry. Due to some scheduling mishap, his next class was across campus and he wasn’t as spry as his younger colleagues.

As the door slid shut with a metallic clank, the lecture hall was submerged in a vacuum. Yuri’s response echoed off the stories-high walls, still just a whisper despite the architecture meant to project even the eldest professor’s voice, “Sure.”

As she finished packing her bag, Yuri hummed a foreign song to herself. She didn’t even know where she had heard the song first, it must have been on the radio.

_ Lately I’ve been running on faith. _

She climbed the steps to the beat and with a flourish arrived at the door through which everyone else had long departed. Her fingers absently minded reached towards the switches and with a flick, the massive fluorescent lights faded first to a candle glow, and then to darkness, the only light: a door-shaped rectangle framing a twenty-something student that loved to linger a little too long.

With a breath, Yuri left the sanctuary of the darkened room and pushed open the door with an intentionally soft click, letting the not-yet setting sun greet her face.

A yelp and a crashing stop caught the swing of the door and left Yuri pushing absentmindedly into an unseen foe. “Hey, you hit me!”

The sound of shoes scraping against concrete, a light grunt, and a heavier-than-usual door brought Yuri back from her stupor, “Huh?” She pushed again.

A raspy voice accompanied a sudden thunk, “Stop, stop you win!”

“Oh, I’m sorry.” Yuri let the door close again.

She counted three deep breaths and gingerly opened the door again. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know you were there.”

Another student about her age stood a solid four meters away from the door. Her hair was tied up in a ponytail that was probably more suited for someone younger, her lips were pouted exaggeratedly to the point of ridicule, and her arms were squarely on her hips, she was not happy. “Yeah, I got that. Thanks.”

Yuri stepped out and let the door slide shut behind her. She fidgeted with her bag on her shoulder, “You know, you really shouldn’t stand so close to the door.”

“Hey, you’re the one who hit me.”

“I mean, I’m sorry for that, but still, you shouldn’t have been there.” She turned away as a group of her classmates hanging around abruptly stopped their conversation.

“No ‘Are you okay?’, show some respect for your elders.”

The bystanders hurried away as quickly as they could without breaking their craned necks. “I’m sorry. Are you okay?” she turned her head down and dropped her pitch almost a full octave.

The haughty girl’s expression melted into a grin, “Could be better. Anyway, name’s Yena, and yours? I’ll need it if I ever need to seek reparations.”

“I’m sorry. It’s Yuri,” she almost whispered. She looked up and realized that the girl was standing right in front of her, hand outstretched, with the sun at her back.

The older girl beamed a dimpled smile, “Nice to meet you Yuri.”


	2. Chapter 2

_ 4/26 2:34 PM _

Maybe it was just confirmation bias, but Yuri started seeing more of Yena around campus over the next week. She didn’t particularly want to talk to the elder student anyway, she was always busy or preoccupied by her friends, usually smirking that ridiculous grin or laughing a bit too loudly. And so Yuri would keep her earphones on and continue walking to her next class or the library or to the bus stop.

She looked up from the stacks of books she was sorting to stare directly into the shale eyes of the so-called Yena. Her mind began to race and she felt her face turning flush. The ponytailed girl shone with a ridiculous smile, and Yuri tried her best to avoid eye contact and to keep her ears at a crimson hue rather than beet-coloured.

After a half minute in which both girls were temporarily struck by muteness, Yuri silently turned away to continue her task.

Yena immediately caved, “Hey! It’s rude to ignore your seniors.”

Yuri fought the urge to turn around as she pointed to a cartoon image of an old spectacled woman with her finger over her mouth and the words “Quiet in the library”.

An aggressive whisper bounded over her shoulder in response to the words unsaid, “It’s me, Yena! Don’t you remember?”

Yuri relished languishing in her task as she slowly removed the top book, glanced at the notes, took extra time inspecting the covers for disfiguration, and placed it in its respective pile. She could almost feel the heat of the other student’s frustration. Almost.

She turned around and realized that the older girl was nowhere to be seen. Inquisitively, she leaned over the cart of still unsorted textbooks and almost sent hundreds of books tumbling over.

“Boo.”

“What the?!” she screamed.

Yena simply put a finger to her pursed lips in a mocking smile.

Yuri took a moment to regain her composure and her footing, leaning away from the beaming girl in front of her. Even after ten or so deep breaths, her ears were now definitely beet-red or maybe even purple. “What do you want?” she hissed.

“I was just passing by and wanted to say hi. I didn’t know you worked here.”

“Okay, hi.” She turned back to continue her work.

A stifling minute passed as Yuri somehow found herself unable to move. Her eyes were perked for Yena’s response, her mind concocting all sorts of retorts to the other girl’s next move. She slowly managed to relax and turned around to notice Yena peering through a nearby bookshelf, fingers brushing the spines of books as she read the titles. This time, Yuri stifled her reflexes and they slowly continued their own business in silence.

The whispers of the library overtook the pair as they settled into their roles, punctuated by the muffled pop of book covers as they opened and closed and accented by the slow shuffling of bodies.

As she finished a stack of books, Yuri looked up and saw that Yena was now sitting at a table reading a book she had apparently plucked from the bunch. Relieved, she continued her work in silence, wondering how she hadn’t heard the footsteps or the scuffing of the chair.

When her shift ended, she realized the other girl had left without a word. Setting her timesheet down, Yuri found herself meandering over to the low table where Yena had sat. When everything seemed in order, she walked back to her station to find a note resting alone like an oasis on her desk

_ I’ll catch you some other time. Sorry. _


	3. Chapter 3

_ 4/30 11:32 AM _

She was leaving her class when Yuri’s attention was drawn to the laughter of a group of students sitting under an aged oak tree, finishing off what appeared to be an early lunch or late brunch picnic. She turned to her friend, “Where do they have milk tea?”

“Dunno, why?”

“That girl has one,” she pointed in the general direction of the group of students.

The red-haired girl glanced over and simply shrugged, “Must be an off campus thing.”

“I guess…” she languished, watching the students pick up and fold their pastel rainbow picnic blanket and slide their leftovers into a wicker basket from a bygone era.

“Mhmm,” Chaewon mumbled in response as she checked her phone.

Yena’s group of friends were now galloping away, tearing across the quad and making altogether too much noise as other students shuffled uncomfortably in case they decided to barrel in their direction. It looked like they were playing tag. The decorum befitting college students urging themselves to be “adults” had disappeared in an instant, all due to an abrupt challenge, or a giddy prank.

The ponytailed girl scaled an “art piece” that looked more like a misplaced boulder with a smooth leap and decreed something to those below her. Yuri could almost hear that slightly raspy voice slicing through the air.

“Hey, what do you want to eat?” her friend’s voice dragged Yuri back to the present.

In an instant the quiet girl responded, “I can’t, my shift starts soon.”

“You didn’t eat breakfast either,” a worried look spread across Chaewon’s face, “that’s not healthy.”

Yuri lowered her eyes, “Yeah, but that’s the shift they gave me.”

Her friend exhaled heavily, her entire body shuddering with beleaguered resignation, “Yeah...” her voice trailed off. Her eyes searched Yuri’s for reciprocation. When she found none she gave a faint smile, “Alright, take care. Try to eat something, okay?”

Yuri nodded as her friend waved goodbye from over her shoulder. A minute later, she lost sight of her red hair amongst myriad backpacks and shoulders. She glanced at her watch and put her headphones back on. She broke her stride and split through the sea of students to turn towards the library.

As she left the quad, she looked back over her shoulder and caught a glimpse of Yena triumphantly raising her fist in the air as she had apparently emerged victorious.


	4. Chapter 4

_ 4/30 5:59 PM _

Class ended just as abruptly as always. The slam of textbooks and the screech of chairs flung Yuri back from her daydreams and into the fluorescent halls.

Professor Kwon rose above the uncorked bottle of voices that flooded forth, “Don’t forget, midterms are next week. I’m holding extra office hours on Thursday, at the same time, 2 PM.”

As the most rambunctious students shouldered the door open with a crash, Yuri rose from her seat. She looked at her notebook to see her scrawled notes had trailed off at some point during the lecture. She swore under her breath and dropped her belongings into her bag, slinging it over her shoulder with a frown.

The professor nodded at her as he passed by, “Thank you.”

Yuri nodded back silently, her mind still clinging to the last whispers of daydream. And by the time the clang of the door snapped her back, she was alone again. She stared at her feet as they made their way up the stairs, her brow furrowed in a knot, her fingers kept flicking open and closing into a fist.

She found herself at the door again and shook her head vigorously, clapping her hands and breathing deep as echoes washed over her. She reached out and flipped the switches and leaned against the door, squinting against the invading sun.

“Hey Yuri.”

She took a full step back into the darkness of the classroom, almost fumbled her phone, lost her footing, and even let out a yelp of surprise. The door almost slid shut before she could brace the door. With a sigh and a deep breath, she pushed out into the sunlight for the second time.

“Hey Yuri,” a ponytailed girl beamed, clearly proud of herself for startling the quiet, lingering student.

She couldn’t help but scoff, “What are you doing here?”

“Hmm?” Yena said with a bemused clueless look, “I’m a student at this here esteemed institution, much like you.”

“I mean, what are you doing here right now?”

“Well, if you must know, I’m done with class and wanted to check up on my favorite junior.”

Yuri broke her gaze and made to pass by the bright girl, her shoulders unconsciously tensed up.

Faux panic set in, “Hey, hey, that’s you! Didn’t you know?”

She started walking faster, her gait becoming almost farcical in profile.

“Is everything alright?”

Yuri snapped her head around to face the other girl and began to speak slowly and deliberately, “No, everything is not alright. Someone I barely know is bothering me and they don’t seem to be getting any of my hints.”

Yena’s lips pursed into a bill as the rest of her being seemed to shrink away.

“And on top of that I dozed off during class and we have a midterm next week and I don’t even know what I missed. I can’t make it to office hours because of work and if I fail this class they might take away my scholarship, and if that happens I’m going to have to drop out.” As if they were in a movie, a gust of wind punctuated the end of her sentence.

True panic appeared in the ponytailed girl’s eyes as they flitted back and forth like a bird, searching for an answer or a solution. After moments that dragged for minutes, she closed her eyes, wrung her arms, and opened her eyes again to look directly into those of her proclaimed “favorite junior”. “It’s History 103 right? You just need this week’s notes? You can use mine. When are you free to study?” A hint of a prideful smile crept into her face as she finished.

She looked at Yena in disbelief, mouth knowingly agape. “Ya’ think yer all that? I don’t want yer charity. And who knows how much the class has changed since y’all took it?”

Yena’s mouth twitched, almost letting a guffaw escape, but she shook those particular demons away and spoke evenly, “I promise my notes are good, and the class hasn’t changed.”

“How do you know?”

She seemed to ponder her words carefully. Yuri could almost hear the gears turning in the elder girl’s mind. As those gears finally clicked into place, a gleeful smile broke onto her face, “Well, you see, we’re in the same grade, and I’m taking Professor Kwon’s morning class.”


	5. Chapter 5

_ 5/1 8:11 PM _

She was late, of course she was late. They were supposed to meet in the library, so Yuri had gone through the effort of flexing her librarian’s assistant status and reserving a group study room beforehand. Since it was midterms week, the library was packed with groups of students either studying, panicking, or plagiarizing. Yuri wondered to herself if this wasn’t just a waste of time and whether she should just bail so she could study someplace less stifling.

The librarian on duty flitted around, futilely trying to shush the hundreds of students packed around too-small tables, telling them off for using backpacks and stacks of encyclopedias as makeshift seats. She could feel the burning glares of students wondering who had the gall to squat a group study room by themselves, the double-paned, soundproof windows barely cooling their heat. As Yuri hunched over her notebook, she almost considered calling on the imaginary friends of her youth, just so she could pretend that she was actually studying with someone, as if that made any sense at all.

As she shook her head to rid herself of ridiculous idea after another, the creak of the door snapped her eyes open. The ponytailed, pouty-lipped girl had materialized in front of her and gave her an almost imperceptible bow, mouthing the word “Sorry.”

“You’re late,” she could feel the heat rising in her face and her ears turning red. For some reason it always seemed to happen like this.

“I know, I know, something came up.” Yena hurriedly sat down next to Yuri and began unpacking the first of her two backpacks. 

Yuri peered across the desk as notebooks and textbooks emerged from the bags. She recognized most of them, but a few names dodged her recollection.

With a huff, she dropped the last book on the table. Yuri winced as the clap echoed like thunder. “So where do you want to start?”

The younger student found herself unable to speak, resorting to flipping her focus between the pile of books and the stone faced girl across the table.

Yena’s gaze didn’t falter for the full minute it took Yuri to croak out, “Um, I guess, d’you know… do you know what the midterm’s going to focus on?”

She reached over and shuffled through one of her notebooks. With a twinkle, she plucked a single one from the bunch, skittered through the pages, and presented it to Yuri. “It’s going to be on the Spanish colonial period, up to and including the May Revolution. Here, you should make a copy of my notes.”

As Yuri gingerly reached her hand out to pull the notebook closer, she couldn’t help but dwell Yena’s bold loopy handwriting that inefficiently took up far too much space on each line. As she skimmed the notes, Yuri flicked her eyes up, checking on her senior but-not-senior student.

She was intently paging through a book about Spanish colonialism, forehead wrinkles and all, mouthing words as she read them. As if endowed with a sixth sense, Yena looked up and met Yuri’s eyes, who blushed and furiously dropped her eyes to the last remaining empty space on the table.

The two continued in scribble and page-flip punctuated silence for a solid thirty minutes, noted by the incessant ticking of Yuri’s watch. As each minute passed Yuri swore she could feel her heart pumping louder as she clenched every muscle in her body, forcing her wandering mind to focus on copying the scrawled text in front of her.

“So… do you have any questions?” Yena’s raspy voice shattered the silence.

Yuri blinked once, twice, and finally managed to clear her throat of the butterflies that had migrated up there, “Um… I guess…” she flipped the notebook around, “What does this say?”

The author of the notes squinted and turned her head at a 30 degree angle. “I... think it says, ‘Montevideo vs. Buenos Aires differences,’” lingering on every other word.

“Okay thanks.” Yuri curtly slid the notebook back to face her and resumed her writing. She swore she could feel her would-be mentor’s eyes staring.

After more minutes of uncomfortable silence spent trying to decode the hastily scribbled notes in front of her, Yuri turned to face the other girl, “Hey.” Yena yelped and looked up with terror in her eyes, clearly caught off guard. “So… why are you helping me? We’re not even friends.”

Yuri watched as Yena blinked slowly, more times than she had ever seen before. Her mind swirled, realizing that she had gone too far and began to stammer, “I’m-”

“I guess I just wanted to help.”

She stared blankly across the table..

Yena continued, lingering on each word as it crawled across her mind, “Sometimes, you know, you just want to help, right?” She scrutinized Yuri’s face for understanding or agreement, “Like, sometimes you just get that feeling.”

Yuri nodded slowly, wondering if her doubt was evident in her expression. Apparently it was.

“Anyway, it was just a feeling. And I like you, so why not?”

She felt her blood rush and her vision blur. Yuri searched for some reflection of the embarrassment she felt but only found a soft, squinting smile. She instinctively broke eye contact and turned her head downward, fiddling with her pencil.

An hour continued in silence, each student focusing intently on preparing for the upcoming week’s tests. Periodically, Yuri would find her mind and eyes wandering away from the task in front of her to the girl across from her. Each time she would be greeted with the top of Yena’s head and she would catch herself and force her gaze back towards the notebook in front of her.

As the night grew deeper and the buzz of the fluorescent lights droned over the dwindling voices of students, Yuri felt her eyes growing heavier. She tried her best to stretch her shoulders quietly in her cramped library seat, suppressing a grunt as she wiggled her body to keep it awake. She shrugged as hard as she could and winced at the echoes that flooded the room, sheepishly throwing a glance at the other girl who was apparently engrossed in her studies before resolutely turning back to the pile of notebooks in front of her.


	6. Chapter 6

_ 5/2 2:11 AM _

Yuri awoke with a start and a half snort. Something was wrong. She blinked her eyes open, wincing at the bright lights surrounding her, craning her neck to relieve the stiffness of apparently sleeping on a tabletop.

After she regained a passable control of her senses, she took stock of her surroundings: some twenty-odd notebooks strewn across a library table, a little bit of drool on her newly-written notes, and a solitary soul sitting across the table from her failing to suppress a chortle.

“Good morning, sunshine.”

She grunted a red-eared response, “Sorry. What time is it?”

“Two-ish,” she beamed back towards her. Without skipping a beat, she slid her chair back with a scuffle and stood up, stretching, “Speaking of which, I’ve got to head back soon. Do you mind if I grab my notes?”

“Sure,” Yuri responded as she busied herself covering up her smudged notes with her arm. “Sorry for dozing off.”

Yena simply laughed in response and started gathering her things, the shuffling of papers and click of pens and pencils against tabletops filling the two and a half meters between them.

Yuri sat in silence as the other girl maintained a hip hop beat under her breath as she continued to pack up her two bags, sling them over her shoulder, and look inquisitively over in her direction, head tilted. “You staying?”

“N-no, sorry.” Yuri quickly shoved her belongings into her bag and stood up. Neck creaking and leg half asleep, she hobbled towards the door, leaning diminutively against the door handle.

“I’ll see you around. Good luck Yuri.”

“Thanks… you too.”


	7. Chapter 7

_ 5/7 6:17 PM _

Yuri stood at the same door as she had tens of times before. She checked her watch, relishing in how the darkness seemed to accent the silence. She counted to ten, then again to twenty, and gingerly pushed the door open, blinking a few times to dispel the waning sun from her eyes.

“Yo, how did it go?” a familiar voice rang out.

Of course she had mentally prepared herself for this, but she still took a second to compose herself and reply with all the calmness she could muster, “Hi Yena.”

“Hey Yuri,” replied the older girl without missing a beat, “So? How was it?”

“Aren’t you done for the day?”

Yena smiled and turned away, her profile silhouetting the sunset, “Just got one more thing to do.”

Yuri stood in the doorway, feet on opposite sides of the threshold, with one arm propping the classroom door open. She found herself waiting for her antagonist’s next words, as always caught in her lackadaisical pace.

“How did it go?” she repeated, eyes brimming with eagerness.

“Well. Can’t complain.”

“Really? That’s great!” she practically bounced off of the cement bench and determinedly reached for Yuri’s free hand. “Let’s go celebrate!”

She recoiled instinctively with what must have been a look of disgust on her face. Her so-called friend froze as if the next ice age had suddenly localized on her exact spot.

Yuri was the first to thaw as her arm began to tire from propping the door open. She stepped out of the doorway hesitantly, both avoiding and seeking Yena’s eyes in apology. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to.”

“That’s fine, it’s my bad,” she recovered, fumbling with her hands and her words at the same time.

Yuri found herself inexplicably trying to cover for the other, “So... where did you want to go?”

As if flicking a switch, Yena’s beaming smile returned, “Let’s get crepes, there’s this new place I want to try.” She reached again for Yuri’s hand and just managed to catch herself. She quickly shook her head, and extended her hand in an invitation, “Sorry. Let’s go?”

The younger student found herself reaching outward to grab the outstretched hand in front of her, not fully aware of why, but nevertheless invested. It couldn’t hurt.

The first thing Yuri noticed was how soft Yena’s hand was compared to her own calloused fingers. Immediately after that: the strength of her grip, pulling her away from the shadow of the lecture halls and down the street into the sunset. Yuri tripped along, stumbling to keep up with the older girl, alternating clutching her backpack and shielding her eyes against the sun.

They continued, plodding across the campus like a pair of completely untrained dragon dancers, dragging each other along as they tried to get a feeling for each other’s pace. Or rather, it was only Yuri getting caught in the half-skip cadence that Yena patented as her very own.

They arrived unceremoniously at a halt. Yuri looked up, expecting to see a sign in flowing script saying “Oh Crepe!” or “Strawberries and Crepes”. Instead, she found herself standing at a bus stop, last in a line of eight other students.

Yena ignored the confused look on Yuri’s face and prattled on, “You’ve got a bus pass right? We’ll take this bus to downtown. It’s about thirty minutes away.”

“No… I don’t go off campus much.”

An uncertain look flashed across Yena’s smiling face, “Hmm, okay. I’ll just tap twice.”

Yuri shook her head, “No, that’s okay.” She zipped open her bag and started fishing around for her wallet.

“No, no, I invited you. Let me.”

She avoided Yena’s pleading eyes, instead choosing to focus on the depths of her bag. With a flourish, she produced a fresh bill and presented it with outstretched arms, “I’ve got it.” She tried to smile, for some reason wanting to reassure the older girl, “Thanks though.”

She pouted but relented, just as the bus squeaked to a stop in front of her, a puff of air announcing its arrival.

As the students proceeded in line to board, Yuri watched Yena turn around with her usual brazen smile. She felt her own complexion melt to match her friend’s.


	8. Chapter 8

_ 5/7 6:52 PM _

Yuri found herself supporting a sleeping Yena’s head. She shifted uncomfortably, shoulders aching from not choosing to sit with perfect posture before her companion fell asleep on her. As she struggled to understand how someone could have fallen asleep at such a time, Yuri realized that she hadn’t asked which stop they were getting off at.

She played with the idea of pinching Yena’s puffy cheeks, or perhaps blowing on her ear that fell exposed of her ebony hair. She settled on bringing her lips close to the girl’s ear, “Good mor~ning Ye~na.”

The sleeping girl mumbled unintelligibly in response, instead nestling her head into a more comfortable position in her friend’s neck.

“Hey! Get up! I don’t know where we are!” she hissed, like a mother scolding a child.

With bleary eyes, Yena mumbled, “Huh? Where are we?”

“That’s what I’m asking you! Where’s this crepe shop or whatever?”

“We’re getting crepes?!” Yena popped up in her seat, narrowly missing a collision with Yuri’s chin, eyes suddenly shining with excitement.

“It was your idea!” The uncomfortable shifting of seats made Yuri realize that her voice had crescendoed in frustration.

“Oh? Really? I do have great ideas.”

Yuri groaned, resisting the urge to bury her face in her hands, “Anyway, where do we get off?”

The self-satisfied girl who was sitting too close checked her phone, “Next stop.”


	9. Chapter 9

_ 5/7 7:10 PM _

“So you’ve got the crepe base, then the fillings, then the toppings,” Yena mused more to herself than to her friend that she was supposed to be teaching.

Yuri’s attention slid from the glass encased display brimming like a treasure vault with a rainbow of marshmallows, chocolate confections, and crunchy whatevers towards the handwritten chalkboard showing prices what looked more like a combinatorics lecture than a dessert store display.

“So, do you know what you want? My treat.”

The older girl’s gaze was fixated on a pyramid of chocolate dipped strawberries. Even so, Yuri instinctively dropped her head and stared at her shoes, noticing that in her morning haste she had worn mismatched socks.

Yena turned around and made an exaggerated pouting face, “Come on, we don’t have all day. I’m gonna get the strawberries.”

“Huh? What’re ya saying? We’re like tenth in line.”

“Hah, I guess you’re right…” she laughed sheepishly, sticking her tongue out. “I guess I’m just excited. It’s been so long since I’ve gotten crepes with a friend.”

Yuri felt her expression soften to match the pastel sunset that filtered through the windows. “I think… I’ll have the chocolate crepe... with bananas.”

Yena apparently wasn’t paying attention, having turned to continue staring at the wall of toppings, mumbling to herself. “Maybe peaches too… ooh and they have mochi puffs! Peanut brittle? Maybe that’d be good…”

As she watched the other girl gesticulate with a bit too much fervor for someone talking to themselves, Yuri’s eyes lingered on Yena’s glossed fingertips and her lightly blushed cheeks. She felt her cheeks turn red, mimicking the blush she had declined to put on. It was midterms week after all.

“And… I’m covering whatever she’s getting,” a voice evicted Yuri from her wandering thoughts.

“U-um, wait…” she found herself staring at a cashier, around the same age as her, a frown creeping into her face. “Uh… I’ll… have what she’s having.”

The woman behind the register droned in response, eyes transfixed to the screen in front of her, “Okay, so two double chocolate chocolate crepes with Nutella, strawberries, whipped cream, rainbow sprinkles, mini marshmallows, and extra caramel sauce.”

“Wait!” Yuri snapped back into the present, “Uhh, sorry, can I change my order? I’ll just have a buckwheat crepe with chocolate syrup, bananas, and puffed rice.” She tried to give her best apologetic smile, which probably looked more like a grimace.

“Uh… o… kay?” her fingers quickly keyed in the new order, “So is this correct?” This time she merely pointed at the tablet screen showing their orders.

“Y-yeah… sorry,” Yuri found herself sneaking a glance at Yena who, as expected, had a huge grin on her face.

When they received their orders, Yuri hurriedly pulled Yena away from the counter and towards an isolated table in the corner, far away from the staff.

Just as they took their seats, aluminum scraping against tile floors, Yuri hissed, “She was so mad!”

“Ahaha, no, she’s just tired. I’m sure she’s closing too,” Yena laughed in response, seemingly more interested in the number of strawberries in her dessert than her friend’s worries.

“Thank god your order was so long. Really, sprinkles and marshmallows? How old are you, five?”

Yena gave a cheeky, toothless grin, “You’re very welcome.” She took her first bite, aiming for a particularly sprinkle covered section, “And, I’ll have you know I’m 22.”

“So you  _ are _ older than me…”

“Yup,” the girl responded with a whipped cream grin.

Yuri turned her attention towards her crepe, taking a bite of sugary soft dough with just the right amount of toppings. She found herself letting out a deep sigh as her appetite found some much needed reprieve.

As she chewed slowly on the mixture of slightly sweet chocolate and deep earthy buckwheat, she leaned back in the small chair, letting her shoulders droop, forgotten and overlooked aches crawling back from the corners of her mind.

From behind closed eyelids, she heard Yena’s familiar voice exclaim, “Whoa, yours is good!”

Her eyes flashed open and were greeted by Yena chewing thoughtfully, a telltale smudge of banana on her cheek. “Hey!”

She offered her own half-eaten crepe as a token of good faith, “Here, have a bite!”

Yuri looked skeptically at the crepe presented to her, “I’m okay.”

“Have some!” Yena insisted, leaning further over the small table that separated them.

Yuri leaned back in the flimsy plastic chair as she recoiled from the mess of sweets and the person holding them too close to her. “It’s okay, really. I don’t want any,” she shook her head and waved her hands, dessert included, back and forth.

With a metallic clang, she heard the chair hit the floor and felt herself falling along with it. She closed her eyes and braced for the impact, her shoulder hitting the linoleum tile with a thud which seemed to echo forever.

Yuri lay on the ground, not moving for a few seconds, not wanting to open her eyes to see the scene she had undoubtedly caused. She closed her senses to the outside world, the clamor of the store coming through as mumbles and unintelligible whispers. The flooring was cold against her shoulder, and thankfully not sticky with sugar, and so her body relaxed while her mind raced through a thousand possible ways to get out of this situation, none of which would possibly work given the laws of physics. She relished being close to the ground, the child-like protection of the fetal position granting her the most minor of comforts.

Yuri felt a warm, strong hand against her free shoulder. She flinched.

“Yuri, are you okay?”

She forced her eyes open and upwards, finding herself staring directly into the dark, worried eyes of her friend. “Y-yeah, I’m fine.”

“Can you get up?” Yena’s voice seemed weaker than usual.

Yuri moved to prop herself up with her free hand and felt an audible squish. “Shit.” She turned to look at what she already had recognized, sitting up fully after lingering on a deep sigh. “Sorry.”

Her friend spoke with unusual conviction, “Let’s get out of here.” Before her sentence was even finished, Yena had already started making for the exit, hand outstretched behind her.

Without overthinking, Yuri grabbed that trailing hand with her syrup-free one and followed Yena out of the shop, intently focused on the swaying ponytail, the yellow hair tie, and the way her hair fell over her ears, and nothing else around them.


	10. Chapter 10

_ 5/7 8:03 PM _

They sat on a stone planter in an unfamiliar neighborhood park, smothered in the trees painted in the depths of evening. The buzz of the street lights that were too few and far between granted Yuri some much needed white noise. She stared into the shrubs ahead of her, as if trying to discern the shapes of woodland fairies that were most assuredly watching them.

She fiddled with a crumpled, syrupy napkin that Yena had somehow grabbed on the way out of the store. Yuri snuck a sideways glance at her friend next to her.

Yena’s head was tilted upwards, apparently unaware of Yuri’s furtive glances, her lips pursed as if whispering silently to the moon.

She followed the line of her friend’s eyes to the cloudy evening sky and the waning moon peering back down at her. “Sorry about earlier,” she said to the air, “And... thanks.”

“Hmm? For what?” Yena asked, eyes still turned upwards as if the moon would be the one to answer.

Yuri turned to face Yena, the curve of her profile barely visible in the clouded moonlight. “You know, at the shop. You wanted crepes and I made a mess out of everything.”

“Don’t worry about it,” she emphatically gave a shadowed thumbs up.

Yuri found herself looking straight into her friend’s eyes and with too many words and no idea how to say them all. She gulped down a breath and puffed out her cheeks. “I mean, you’ve been so nice to me and gave me your notes, and invited me out, and-” Yuri’s eyes suddenly widened as she stopped mid sentence, her forehead wrinkling with the revelation, “And you paid for my crepe! The crepe that I wasted!”

Yena’s eyes stayed pinned on Yuri’s as she waited for her next words.

Unable to keep her thoughts bottled up, Yuri let out a defeated sigh, “Why are you being so nice to me?” 

She tilted her head slightly and scrunched her nose, as Yuri had noticed was part of her thinking pose, eyes glazing past her as they focused on some distant line of reasoning. The younger girl was sure she could feel the night air grow more tepid and smothering with each second that Yena’s mind lingered.

“I don’t…” she measured her words, each word succinct and direct, but still it felt like minutes to Yuri’s racing mind, “I don’t think that I’m being  _ so  _ nice to you. Wouldn’t you do the same for your friends?” A pause that froze the air, “And you’re my friend.”

Yuri couldn’t help but spill out in response, “Why am I your friend? I haven’t done anything for you. I don’t want to owe anyone anything, so why do I feel like I owe you something?”

She could almost see Yena’s eyes rising and falling with each syllable as she spoke. “I know it’s weird,” she said, “But I just feel attracted to you-”

Yuri’s vision blurred as the older girl’s speech hit a proverbial wall, and then accelerated to a breakneck pace. “Wait! That’s not what I meant to say, that’s weird. It’s crazy. I just chose the wrong word. Like, you know what I mean, right? Not  _ attracted _ , like… attract _ ing _ .” Yena was now standing, fidgeting, and wriggling all at the same time, her limbs flailing around as if she was attached to puppet strings.

“What are you talking about?” It was Yuri’s turn to be slow and methodical with her words. “Do you even know me?”

The chill in her voice froze Yena and her dithering in place. “I mean, that’s what I want to do. I want to get to know you more.” Somehow she seemed more serious and selfsure than Yuri had ever seen her before. “What do you like? What makes you happy? What makes you sad? I want to know all of these things.” Her smile seemed to gleam in the moonlight.

After a brief pause to collect her rampaging thoughts, Yuri settled her gaze on her friend, “So what you’re saying is that you’ve decided you’re going to be my friend, come hell or high water?”

“Pretty much.”

“No matter what I say?”

“Yup,” Yena sat down again, laughing and kicking her legs out from under her to cast long shadows on the pavement.

Her shoulders crested, resignedly slumping down in her seat. Yuri could feel the other’s taunting smile, goading her into a response. “You’re unreasonable.”

“If you want me to back off, I will. But you agreed to come with me. Even if we ran into a bit of a speedbump, no reason why we shouldn’t enjoy ourselves.”

It baffled Yuri the extent to which Yena could switch moods on a dime, weaving between serious and juvenile like a slalom rider. “It’s not that easy.” The air grew heavy and still with lingering words, Yuri swore she heard thunder in the distance. “I can’t just go and get crepes whenever I feel like it. I’ve got to save to pay tuition and...” her voice trailed off, a mouse scurrying into the dark.

Wind-rustled trees broke the silence, crisp with the first tinge of rain to come. Yuri made to continue, “I’m sor-”

“I’m saving too, you know…” she was speaking to the moon again, or perhaps Yena wished that her words could bridge the distance between the two, like sending a message into space only to be bounced off a satellite back to Earth. “Not only for school. I’m saving so that when I have bad days… or when my friends have bad days, I can be there for them. So that we can give each other a little bit of happiness when we most need it. You don’t owe me anything. I wanted you to be here tonight, with me. ” Her wistful eyes shone through the clouds billowing through the night sky, indigo pools reflecting almost imperceptible wisps of moonlight.

Rain began to drizzle. To Yuri, the crescendo of droplets hitting pavement sounded like doors slamming in the night.

Yena stood up and turned away from the sky to face her friend again, “Come on, let’s head back.”


	11. Chapter 11

_ 5/12 3:23 PM_

The afternoon sun blazed on a cloudless day, as if intent on wiping away all memories of the rainy nights past. Today was a particularly brutal, a sign to everyone that summer was coming and that it would be relentless. Yuri held her hand up, shielding her eyes as best she could, as she crossed the plaza towards her bus stop. She felt beads of sweat peeling down between her fingers, hanging for a second, and then dripping to an unfortunate, evaporated end on the sun-scorched concrete.

She reached into her bag for a handkerchief just as she heard a voice call out to her.

“Yuri!”

She spun around to seek out the speaker, “Hey Hitomi.” Yuri raised an eyebrow upon seeing other student dressed in what could only be described as jogger’s attire. “Aren’t you hot?”

“It’s not that bad,” she pulled a bottle of water out of her bag and took a deep swig, “You heading home?”

“Yeah, done for the day. And I’ve got that report for lit to finish.”

“Isn’t that due next week?” Her laughter seemed almost buoyant, floating away like a released balloon.

She smiled shrewdly, “Well, let’s say that I need to finish reading first.”

“Oh.” Yuri couldn’t tell if it was feigned or real shock that crossed her friend’s face, “Well, the end isn’t all that great. Spoilers: Dracula loses.”

“Thanks. But we’re analyzing themes not summarizing it, remember?”

She laughed and gave an exaggerated flourish, “And they lived happily ever after.”

Yuri noticed a flickering in her peripheral vision and inched her head to the side. A ponytailed girl was jumping, waving her arms in Yuri’s direction. Upon closer inspection, Yuri noticed that she was bouncing while walking backwards, travelling with a band of students that could possibly be described as gang: a few laughing at the flamboyant girl’s antics, most of them engrossed in their own conversations.

“Hey,” Hitomi snapped, the sharp crack of her fingers almost giving Yuri vertigo.

“Huh?” she blinked a couple times and wiped her forehead, “Sorry, what were you saying?”

“Your bus is here,” she nodded towards a double-length bus that pulled up about a hundred meters away.

Yuri found herself motioning towards a nearby shaded bench, “I’ll catch the next one.”

“You sure that’s okay? Don’t you have a novel to finish?”

She shook her head emphatically, “I’ll make it work.”

Hitomi’s brow furrowed, perhaps from worry, or from the sweat collecting on her forehead. She shrugged her stray thoughts away and absentmindedly pulled out a handkerchief. “So, how’ve you been? It’s been ages.”

“I’m fine,” Yuri wrung her hands in her lap. “So what’s with the get up?”

“I’m on the track and field team now,” she smiled as she wiped the bench before taking a seat.

Yuri’s eyes lit up and a smile cracked her normally pensive face, “Is that why you look like you’re training for a marathon?”

Hitomi’s eyes arced into crescent moons as she laughed, “No, I’m a sprinter. Hundred meter and four-hundred meter sprints. I’m still second string though.”

Yuri saw Yena’s group become a multicoloured blob in the heat waves in the distance and reaffirmed her attention back on her friend. “So, tell me about it.”


	12. Chapter 12

_ 5/15 12:37 PM _

Yuri sat deep in the basement of the library, facing the same corner she had picked out for herself when she had first visited the reference section her first week at school. She breathed deeply, the scent of old pages and stagnant air filling her with nostalgia and a sense of safety. She fingered through the pages of her book, filtering through her bookmark tags, delicately removing and replacing those that pointed to passages she no longer cared for and noting those that resonated particularly well with her.

She heard a scuffling next to her and the soft plop of a backpack on a cushioned chair. Without looking up, she continued flipping through her novel, intent on making real progress this time. After all, this was the quiet section of the library.

As if the world was laughing at her, a hiss crept into her consciousness, “Hey.”

Out of an instinct befitting a librarian’s assistant, she shushed her neighbor without looking up, focused intently on pulling passages from the sea of words.

Another whisper followed, sharper this time, cutting through the musty air, “Hey! Yuri!”

Having been ignored, she turned to see exactly whom she had expected to be sitting next to her. “What do you want?”

Yena pulled a notebook out of her backpack and placed it on the desk in front of her, “Mind if I join you?”

“I’m kind of busy.”

“That’s fine, I won’t bother you,” the girl continued, oblivious of the irony of the situation she had created.

The two continued on their own respective studies, their conversation existing only as the scribbling of pencils and the turning of pages. In the deepening silence, Yuri found her mind wandering as questions and accusations surfaced from its depths.

“How did you find me?” she shot at her neighbor, eyes fixed steadily in front of her.

She received an immediate response, “I saw you come in and just asked the librarian where you might be.”

Yuri felt her ears redden as they seemed to be prone to nowadays. “Why are you here?”

“Isn’t it nicer to study with a friend?” she said matter of factly. Yuri could almost hear the smug smile on Yena’s face.

Yuri struggled to find an appropriate response and upon failing to do so, she tried to return to concentrating on the pages in front of her.

Yena seemed to take her silence as agreement and the scribbling of her pencil against paper resumed, content in her position as study-neighbor.

“Thank you,” she spoke up, “For last week.”

A shuffling of papers and the shifting of body in a chair comprised the entirety of Yena’s response.

Her ears flushed warm with blood, and she felt a tick enter her voice, “Did ya hear me? I said ‘Thank you.’”

“You’re welcome. Let’s do it again sometime,” Yena trailed on in response, apparently oblivious to the look on Yuri’s face, “I could have done without the rain though.”

She sighed and turned back to her book, taking a moment and a few deep breaths to calm herself down. Her hands felt clammy in the still air, she balled them into a fist a few times as she worked through her racing thoughts. “Do you…” her voice faltered as she tried to breathe it all back in.

Yena didn’t seem to hear, or didn’t seem to mind. Yuri watched the girl’s pencil glide across the paper without breaking stride. “Do you want to get dinner sometime...” the words froze in place, stuck in her throat, as her eyes flit back and forth looking for the hint of a reaction from the abnormally stoic student in front of her.

It was strange how often Yuri found herself in this same situation, staring at her friend’s profile, waiting for some sort of response. She thought to herself that she only had herself to blame, if she was more brave or more cheerful or a smoother talker, maybe she wouldn’t always be the one left with words unsaid.

“I ju- I just… Let me pay this time,” she found herself stammering fruitlessly to try to fill the dead air.

Yena tapped her pencil against her forehead, apparently having reached a good stopping point, “Sure, I’ve got a check up tonight, but how about tomorrow?”

Yuri felt her mouth opening and her vocal chords tightening, “Che--”. She stopped herself and corrected course, happy to at least have an answer. “Okay, let’s meet in the square at 6?”

“That works, you’re done with class then?” Yena twirled her pencil around her fingers.

“Yeah.”

She smiled toothily and lay the pencil down in front of her, “Then it’s a date.”


	13. Chapter 13

_ 5/15 5:33 PM _

Yuri slumped down in her chair and lay her head down on her desk with a thump. Even closing her eyes didn’t help her lightheadedness, in fact it only made her more dizzy. She held onto the sides of the seat cushion with both hands, trying to steady her mind as it span and ran in every direction at once. She sat rolling in the waves of her tumbling thoughts, falling endlessly through her anxiety for what seemed like hours but what must have only been a minute.

She slowly squinted her eyes open and with tremendous effort straightened up in her seat, only to slump over to stare at the ceiling. She mouthed the words, “It’s a date?”

Yuri furtively looked in the direction of her closet, shook her head vigorously, and clapped her face with both hands. In the lingering echo she leaned over to grab her bag, just barely able to avoid a repeat of the crepe shop incident by propping herself up against her desk.

She pulled out a worn paper bound novel and felt the weathered spine and slightly frayed pages, taking deep breaths to calm her rapidly beating heart. She stared fervently at the passages she had marked and annotated earlier, desperate to distract her adventuring mind. She released the breath she hadn’t even realized she had been holding and put her fingers to her keyboard.

The evening clicked by with the tapping of the keys, tracking the passage of time in passages of text neatly organized into the standardized essay format that every student knew by heart by now. Sentences were broken up by punctuation and glances across the room. Paragraphs by the hands splayed across the keyboard and lingering sighs.

She was almost done, it wasn’t due until next week, she already had finished most of the skeleton, it would be easy to fill in later. She stood up, bouncing lightly on the balls of her feet, and slid open the clattering door to her closet, telling herself that it wouldn’t hurt to plan a bit in advance.


	14. Chapter 14

_ 5/16 7:37 AM _

Yuri didn’t sleep well last night. She lumbered over to the mirror in the corner of her room and pinched her cheeks as if it would lessen the bags under her eyes. She absentmindedly pulled at the tangles in her hair as she searched her desk for her brush. She stumbled in and out of the shower in record time, even forgetting to put on a playlist to sing in hushed tones to.

Brushing her hair, she glanced at the two outfits she had pulled together from the depths of her closet. In the curtain-muddled morning light, it all seemed completely wrong.

A thought tripped its way across Yuri’s disheveled mind,  _ Where are we eating? _

With unusual swiftness, she snatched her four year-old phone from its home next to her pillow, cords and headphones whipping against the nightstand.

No missed messages. Yena hadn’t deigned to save her again with a spontaneous suggestion.

She felt sweat rise from every pore as she frantically tore through the pages in her memory, searching for any mention of favorite food or particular craving.  _ She’d never mentioned it, had she? _

Yuri slumped back into her chair, this time not even pretending to be working on her essay. Her entire body was rigid except her darting eyes and fingers flicking across pages of inane articles about the hottest new restaurants in town that she would never have even given a second glance before yesterday.

New Italian bistro.

Modern French with open air patio.

All you can eat barbecue.

She exhaled a deep sigh, trying to expel even the tiniest bit of stress from her aching body. Yuri leaned back to look at her inverted bed and the yellow one piece dress that lay upon it. Maybe this was too bold for her. She’d rather just wear a loose shirt and jeans, something with less frills at least. But she did like that it exposed her shoulders, at least she could be proud of those, right?

She slammed her feet down. Her ears heard a clatter and a yelp from another room, and brushed it away with a swipe on her phone.

Yuri rose from her desk and reached for her towel for the second time in as many hours.


	15. Chapter 15

_ 5/16 5:47 PM _

_ It’s weird _ , Yuri told herself.

She stood in the quad, trying her best not to look like she was waiting for anyone as she clutched the straps of her purse in both hands. Her shoulders ached more than they had in the morning, probably caused by the cotton book bag that she had slung over one shoulder. The bright idea of skipping her backpack for a purse had come back to bite her; she had obligations other than the date after all.

Minutes passed as she told herself that she should stay standing to not make her friend feel like she had been waiting for a while, whenever Yena actually did come. She shifted her weight from foot to foot counting the students that passed by, only a couple of whom gave her a second glance.

Yuri could feel summer coming. She took a raspy breath and reached into her bag for her water bottle, fumbling with it as it tried to slip from her clammy hands.

Yuri adjusted the position of her tote bag and wiggled her shoulders to try to relieve their longing for reprieve.

Yuri stared at her shoes, watching the curve of her toes against the fabric. At least she wasn’t crazy enough to wear her only pair of heels to school. She released a heavy breath, at least Yena was only a bit taller than her.

“Yuuuuri,” a familiar voice snapped her head back to eye level to see her friend leaning forward, her face a little too close.

She grimaced and instinctively reached to massage her shoulders. “Hey Yena.” She almost thanked her stiff neck for giving her a reason to not meet Yena’s eyes as they undoubtedly gauged her outfit.

Yuri felt Yena’s silken soft fingers grip hers and her vision blurred as she struggled to get out the line she had practiced in her head a hundred times, “S-so I couldn’t find a place… do you, do you have any ideas? I’m sorry.” Her ears rang as if she were developing a severe case of tinnitus, and she knew undoubtedly that her ears matched her lipstick.

“There’s this cafe-slash-flower shop that I want to try, does that sound good?”

“Sure…” Yuri’s voice trailed away as she managed to pry her eyes away from her flats, and immediately dropped them again as she locked eyes with Yena.

“By the way,” Yena continued, as she started walking towards the bus line, seemingly speaking to the clouds above, “You look cute today.”

Yuri couldn’t help but follow Yena from a foot away, arm stretched forward like a toddler being led around a store by their mother. She knew she looked ridiculous, but her legs felt like jelly and could barely keep up as it were. Her friend asked her about her day, and lavished details about her own, her friends, her classes, her latest tests. To Yuri, she seemed able to talk until the following sunrise whereas her sorry self could only muster grunts and the merest of nods.

By the time Yuri looked up, she had somehow paid her bus fare and made it halfway into the city, more assuredly only by the leadership of the unflappable girl that she was now somehow on a date with.

“So, where’d you get that dress? I love it, it’s just my colour.”

Yuri stuttered out, “I got it last year… I haven’t- I haven’t really had the chance to wear it.”

“Well it looks good on you. Let me borrow it sometime,” she said matter-of-factly, leaving no room for dispute. Yuri’s tour guide broke eye contact and glanced out the window briefly before declaring, “Next stop.”


End file.
